A New Understanding
by Bar-Ohki
Summary: Now Complete! A series of drabbles involving Hiruma interacting with the other members of the Devil Bats in normal ways. Stories include checking out boobs, spotting weights, and looking out for your own.
1. Juumonji

Author's Note: I am in an Eyeshield 21 role play on LiveJournal, this is a similar scene to something that actually happened in the role play. It makes for an amusing one shot.

Disclaimer: In no way am I attempting to steal or claim I own or am affiliated with Eyeshield 21.

Rating: T for boob talk and a few bad words.

Summary: When making an attempt to understand the female creature a bit better, Juumonji finds himself sharing a guy moment with… Hiruma?

Pairings: None, though there is some not so well disguised heterosexualness.

A New Understanding

By: Bar-Ohki

The Deimon Devil Bats was a football team made up of mostly idiots. Thankfully there were a few shinning exceptions to this trend of stupidity. Hiruma Youichi, the cunning and devilish quarterback was arguably the smartest kid in school and the brains behind the operation of the team. Yukimitsu Manabu was a model student who's only strong muscle was his brain; this allowed him to synchronize with Hiruma on an intellectual basis and by doing so making some pretty outstanding plays. Anezaki Mamori was considered by most to be a dream girl (if you could ignore her obsession with cream puffs) having intelligence, good looks, and a kind, patient personality. She used these traits to be an outstanding manager for the Devil Bats. Takekura "Musashi" Gen wasn't a genius like the others, but he wasn't a complete idiot either. The final person of decent intelligence on the Devil Bats' line up was surprisingly Juumonji Kazuki, the man with the best technique on the Deimon Line.

Juumonji, though not a genius, got good marks in school and considered himself to be a fairly smart and successful person. Today he found himself baffled by something most boys his age found baffling: the female creature.

A girl had offered him a bento at lunch and he had declined, explaining that he had already had lunch and didn't have room in his stomach to eat her bento. Somehow this resulted in him getting slapped, screamed at, then glared at by all the girl's female companions.

The only saving grace was that Hiruma had not been there to film the whole thing to use as blackmail against him later.

After walking around school with a large hand-shaped bruise on his face, Juumonji decided that he would gain a better understanding of the female creature to prevent this episode from happening again.

Now the lineman found himself in front of an elderly saleslady at a magazine shop.

"Er… I'd like to know what magazines are most popular with high school girls." Juumonji answered the woman's inquiry if he needed some help.

"And why would you be wanting to know that?" The old woman was extremely suspicious.

"Umm… it's kind of hard to explain…," Juumonji began, "I got this girl really mad at me earlier and I'm trying to figure out why."

"Oh!" The woman laughed and pointed to various magazines on the rack. "Girls like boys that try to be understanding."

"Thanks?" Juumonji decided the old woman was being creepy. He quickly purchased the magazines and headed to the one place he could think of where he wouldn't be disturbed: the American Football Clubhouse. It wasn't a place of peace and quiet during practice, but when there wasn't practice the place was deserted (mainly because the student body was afraid of the consequences). So, Juumonji found himself sitting down on one of the comfortable couches and began his quest to understanding the female creature by studying what interested them.

Sometime while Juumonji was engrossed in reading, someone else had come into the clubhouse, banged around a little then stopped. Juumonji hadn't bothered to look up, or care because the noise stopped fairly quickly. He flipped the page in the book to see a clothes add for clothes. The model in the picture had enormous boobs, bigger than usual.

"Woah!" Juumonji gasped, startled by the image.

"Tch. Fake boobs aren't all that great." A male voice from behind him remarked.

"Well, no, they're not. I've heard they don't feel good under your hand when you play with them." Juumonji agreed, still not looking up from the magazine.

"That would be because they are full of plastic, not fat like the natural ones." The other guy explained.

"Ah." Juumonji nodded. "Why do they do it? I mean, most guys find fake breasts lame."

"Most _quality_ guys find them unattractive." Juumonji's companion argued. "There are idiotic losers out there that just want big tits."

"That's true I suppose…." Juumonji consented. He flipped the page. "Ah, now there's a good set of breasts!"

"They'd be better if they weren't in _that_ bra." Juumonji's companion was commenting on the most hideous looking green breast-holding contraption either male had ever seen. "I don't think I could get that fucking thing off with a knife!"

At the word 'fucking' Juumonji finally realized who his companion was. He slowly looked up from his magazine to meet eyes with Hiruma Youichi. Juumonji looked half horrified.

"What just crawled up your ass?" Hiruma's eyes narrowed into a disapproving glare.

"…We just checked out breasts…." Juumonji remained bewildered.

"And?"

_"Together."_ Juumonji emphasized his point. Immediately Hiruma's harsh expression lifted and was replaced by a simple one of realization.

"Oh!" Hiruma's ears went red with embarrassment.

"I wouldn't talk about this if you don't." Juumonji returned his gaze to his magazine to hide his embarrassed flush.

"Deal."

Later that day Juumonji went and threw the magazines in the incinerator to hide the evidence.

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And that is perhaps the nicest deal that the devil ever made.


	2. Yukimitsu

Author's Note: This story is officially dedicated to RoseJustice for inspiring me to write more. Now this is a series of one shots revolving around Hiruma sharing various normal moments with the other members of the Devil Bats.

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Summary: Yukimitsu begins to understand a new truth….

Pairings: These are all friendship pairings.

A New Understanding

By: Bar-Ohki

Yukimitsu Manabu was without contest, the weakest member of the Devil Bats. The only person slower on the team than him was Kurita, who was also the most powerful person on the Devil Bats. Yukimitsu did hold the record for lowest bench press; even Sena, whose only strength was speed, pressed more than he did. That was Yukimitsu's reality.

But even a weak player like Yukimitsu had strengths. He was one of the most determined people on the team, often continuing to practice after the others had left. He was also extremely smart and very good at studying. Hiruma had had him studying plays and routes since the beginning.

After the Fall Tournament ended, Yukimitsu felt more desperate. He _had_ to get stronger, he _had_ to be out on the field with everyone else.

So the studious teen found himself in the weight room two hours before practice started. Yukimitsu had done some research on resistance training, which would help him build a little more power. Methodically Yukimitsu set up the bench press, making sure nothing was out of place.

Yukimitsu laid down on the bench and put his hands to the bar, about to make the lift, stopping before he started.

"I can't do press without a spotter…." Yukimitsu muttered, defeated. The door to the weight room opened and shut, unfortunately Yukimitsu was too busy being miserable to notice. He did notice two hands wrapping themselves around the bar on either side of his own hand. Yukimitsu looked up to see Hiruma looking down at him with an unamused expression and a raised eyebrow.

"Fucking baldly," Hiruma began, "what the hell are you doing?"

"…I wanted to get some extra practice in, so I thought I'd do some resistance training." Yukimitsu admitted. "But I can't press without a spotter." Hiruma's expression relaxed into one of faint amusement. The devilish quarterback removed his hands from the bar, but remained hovering over Yukimitsu.

Neither boy said anything, but the message was clear enough: Hiruma was spotting, so Yukimitsu could now press.

Yukimitsu's expression grew serious and he began to lift the bar. Up, down, up, down, each time harder than the last. When he reached his last lift, his arms felt like jello and the bar felt like it weighed triple what it actually did.

"Grah!" Yukimitsu grunted, finding himself unable to make the last lift.

Hiruma said nothing and placed the palms of his hands underneath the bar, pushing up with barely any pressure. Yukimitsu let out another grunt and managed to lift the bar one last time. Hiruma kept his hands on the bar to make sure that the bar was guided properly back onto the rack.

With a clang, Yukimitsu's pressing was over, leaving the boy heaving with effort.

"You've improved." Hiruma observed. It was as close to a complement as he ever got, which is why Yukimitsu smiled, full of pride. The studious boy hauled himself off of the bench, still smiling like a fool.

"I'll spot you." Yukimitsu offered, not entirely sure where the impulse to do that was. Hiruma smirked in approval.

"Are you sure you can handle it, baldy?" Hiruma teased him as he added more weight.

"I can handle anything you throw at me!" Yukimitsu announced. Hiruma cackled in response.

"Ke ke ke! Very well then, I'll make your practice wore than Hell today." Hiruma assured him, his eyes lit up with mischief. Hiruma laid down on the bench and waited for Yukimitsu to get in position. When everything was ready Hiruma began his pressing.

Like Yukimitsu, Hiruma had pushed himself to his limits, finding his arms shaking with effort on his last press. Hiruma growled when the bar refused to rise anymore.

Wordlessly Yukimitsu placed his palms underneath the bar and pushed up lightly. Unlike with his press, Hiruma was unable to move it anymore, in fact it started dropping. Hiruma let out a feral cry as the bar began to lower. Yukimitsu grabbed the bar and despite his spent muscles, began to pull up. After a few tense moments the bar began to slowly lift again.

Both boys let out beastial cries when the bar reached its designated height. They carefully guided the bar back onto the rack.

Hiruma and Yukimitsu met eyes and shared smiles.

There was another truth about football: receivers met nothing without quarterbacks and quarterbacks met nothing without receivers. Together, a quarterback and receiver could do anything on the field.

It was that day in the weight room that Yukimitsu really began to understand that.

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	3. Monta

Author's Note: This takes place not long after the locker room is built (which means Yukimitsu doesn't really have a position and Taki isn't on the team yet). I made up the article stuff (with the exception of the Joe Montana reference, that's in the manga).

Disclaimer: I am claiming I own nothing!

Summary: Monta realizes that everyone has their own heroes….

A New Understanding

By: Bar-Ohki

Hiruma Youichi was a very controlled, intentional person. Everything he did was deliberate. But even the most controlled and deliberate people have their off days, its only human.

Today the one glitch in Hiruma Youichi's perfectly calculated day was that he forgot to take a towel with him into the showers. That was it, just one damn, fluffy, red towel.

Hiruma poked his head carefully out of the showers and into the locker room to see if there was anyone about. Raimon Tarou, the Devil Bats only real receiver, was in the locker room buttoning up his shirt, almost ready to leave.

"Hey Monta!" Hiruma called to the receiver after a moment's thought.

"Hiruma-sempai?" Raimon turned around, a bit stunned he wasn't being called 'fucking monkey'.

"Open my locker and get me my towel!" Hiruma ordered, making sure to show a lot of fangs.

Raimon was easily able to recognize an unspoken threat when he saw one, and quickly complied. He pulled open Hiruma's locker (which mainly full of weapons of mass destruction, which did not surprise Raimon in the least). At the bottom was a red towel, Raimon grabbed it and carefully maneuvered it out from underneath all of the guns. Soon the towel was free.

Raimon dashed over and put it in Hiruma's waiting hand. Hiruma said nothing and retreated back into the shower to presumably finish what he started. Raimon turned around to close Hiruma's locker when something caught his eye. In the bottom corner of Hiruma's locker's door was a magazine clipping with a photograph of some NFL player, a quarterback if his ball holding stance was anything to go by, and a short article. It had been cut in such a way that Raimon couldn't read most of the article but it said this:

'Growing up, my hero was Flash Gordon. Now my hero is Joe Montana. I know its funny, he's a receiver on my team and all, but he's still my hero. I wouldn't be half the quarterback I am without him!'

Raimon couldn't help but to blink a few times to let the words sink in. During this blinking the words didn't completely sink in and Raimon noticed another photograph tucked behind the magazine clipping. Curiosity (or perhaps it was stupidity, this _is_ Hiruma's stuff we're talking about here) Raimon pulled the picture out to look at it.

It was a picture of him during practice. Raimon had dove to the side and fully extended his body to barely catch the pass. The look on his face was extremely serious and determined. Raimon flipped the picture over and saw two neatly written words:

My Hero

Without another word, Raimon put the picture back and shut Hiruma's locker. He went about pulling on his blazer and tie, packing up the last of his things. By the time he finished Hiruma came out of the shower, dry and shirtless (though not pantless). Hiruma simply raised an eyebrow at him.

"Hiruma-sempai," Raimon began, "can we start practice earlier tomorrow? I want to get stronger."

Hiruma smirked devilishly. "Be here two hours early."

Later on, after the victory against the Nagas, Raimon was sure of one thing: Hiruma Youichi had four pictures in his locker. A picture of a famous quarterback, and pictures of his three heroes: Raimon "Monta" Tarou, Yukimitsu Manabu, and Taki Natsuhiko, the other three fourths of his quarterback skills.

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	4. Mamori

Author's Note: The way I'm working these drabbles is such that Devil Bat is going to have a private moment with Hiruma. After a thought about the towel comment in the last chapter, I decided to follow up with that with the only person who does laundry: Mamori.

Disclaimer: I'm going to stop bothering with this after this chapter. I don't own Eyeshield 21, and well, I won't at any point in my life so there's no point in assuming I do.

Summary: In this chapter, Mamori makes a conclusion about boys and their towels…

A New Understanding

By: Bar-Ohki

Anezaki Mamori often felt like she was the mother of 12 unruly, teenage football players. She was always cleaning up after them, patching up their scrapes, and giving them advice on what they should and shouldn't be doing (like not shooting at random bystanders just because they were loitering by the clubhouse). Today was no exception, she made everyone snacks, cleaned the clubhouse, and had to find 10 different pairs of socks (somehow the socks always wound up in the wrong person's locker and with a sock that belonged to someone else).

Only Taki and Hiruma were immune to the sock misplacement, Taki because he put his name on his socks, and Hiruma because Hiruma's socks were remarkably cleaner than everyone else's (and Mamori could not, for the life of her, figure out why, they were washed the same way as everyone else).

Right now, Mamori was cleaning the lockers in the locker room. Typically Mamori only cleaned the room itself because she felt she had no business going into people's lockers, but some unpleasant smells started to come from several lockers, and Mamori announced that she would be cleaning them today. The boys had been thankful for the chance to clean out the lockers of all embarrassing items before Mamori went in and brushed out the cobwebs.

She swung open all of the lockers to see that none of them had very much inside. Everyone had their school uniforms, gym clothes, and a change of casual clothes in their lockers (it was one of the Hiruma's rules). A few people had posters, pictures, and/or magazine clippings of their role models in their lockers (Raimon had a poster of Honjou Masaru, while the Huh Bros had pictures of the three of them hanging out in theirs). And everyone had their showering toiletries in their lockers.

Mamori had to admit she was pleasantly surprised that every boy on the team believed in soap, shampoo, and deodorant.

"Here it is." Mamori made a face and discovered that most of the smells were coming from the towels. Looks like the first thing she'd be doing laundry first. Quickly gathering the towels, she threw them into a large bin full of hot water.

Mamori raised an eyebrow at the bin, she hadn't prepared it for laundry.

"What the hell are you doing?" Hiruma growled from behind her.

"I was washing the smelly towels." Mamori told him hotly. "What are you doing?"

"…None of your business." Hiruma hissed at her and stormed off. Mamori rolled her eyes and began washing the towels.

The Huh Bros had the exact same towel, but in different colors. They were all a little abused and frayed on the edges. They were not rough towels, but they weren't soft either. Kurita had an enormous, fluffy towel that had cake prints on it (it was one of the less smelly towels). Komusubi's towel was more like a large canvas rag with a print of Mt. Fuji on it (very strong feeling fabric). Ishimaru had a towel that was plain and unremarkable. Yukimitsu's towel was very expensive-looking, decently fluffy, and really soft; his name was embroidered in the corner. Taki's towel was very flashy and cheaply made. The towel that belonged to Musashi had obviously seen better days, it was old, stained, and had several holes in it. Despite all that the towel was soft and still seemed to do a good job sucking in water. Raimon's towel was brown with banana patterns all over it. Sena had an enormous fluffy towel with star ships on it (it looked like it belonged to a child).

"Huh?" Mamori held up a fluffy, red towel. It must have belonged to Hiruma by default. It was a little scratchy on one side, while being really soft on the other. Unlike the other towels, it didn't smell, in fact, it looked recently washed. Mamori contemplated throwing it into the wash for a minute, there was a chance the red would come off and stain some of the lighter towels.

_'No, I'll wash it with the others, he's still apart of the team, even if he is the most clean.'_ Mamori threw the towel in and began washing.

_'These towels are just like their owners.'_ Mamori giggled to herself. _'Even Hiruma's not an exception.'_

After a few minutes she found herself pulling out something that wasn't a towel.

"A sock?" Mamori blinked. She then remembered that the tub had already been full and that Hiruma always had such abnormally clean socks.

"…Hirumak-kun washes his socks twice." Mamori announced after a long minute.

"And you better damn well do a good job." Hiruma hissed from behind her, startling her.

Mamori turned around and stared at him, not sure what to say.

"Why?" Mamori managed after a minute.

"I never get my socks confused with anyone else's if they are fucking clean, do I?" Hiruma half-taunted her. "It's not my fault you're so terrible at washing."

"Well if that's the case, you can finish this!" Mamori promptly announced as she stood up and walked away, leaving Hiruma and the half-finished towel wash alone.

After Mamori was done cleaning and airing out the locker room, she heard a knock behind her. Hiruma had tapped on the wall to get her attention.

"Fucking manager." Hiruma addressed her.

"Don't call me that." Mamori glared back.

"We did the wash for you." Hiruma told her. "It's out drying." He turned on his heel and left.

Mamori blinked, confused when she entered the clubhouse again. It was still clean and someone had set out a plate with a cream puff on it. Mamori took the cream puff and walked outside to see the entire Devil Bats line up smiling at their hanging towels.

Sometimes, even the most incorrigible boys, can do sometime nice and sweet for their mother.

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	5. Togano

Author's Note: When I first wrote these, I had no idea they were going to be so popular…. Togano is one of the Huh Brothers.

Summary: Togano successfully recruits the help of the Devil….

A New Understanding

By: Bar-Ohki

Togano Shozo was well known for reading manga, sleeping in class, and playing on the Devil Bats line. He was a delinquent-turned-sportsman and a faithful friend to his long-time pals Juumonji Kazuki and Kuroki Koji. Today was a particularly strange day for the three friends, for a start Juumonji had been forced to serve a detention with the music teacher for 'being unable to sing appropriate lyrics'. Togano had to hang back for a minute to ask Kobayakawa Sena, the Devi Bat's runningback, if he knew when practice would end that day. Kobayakawa answered something on the lines of 'whenever Hiruma wants it to be over'. And Kuroki found himself receiving a love confession from a girl he had never seen before.

Togano had watched the confession from afar. He sensed something a miss with this girl confessing her love to Kuroki, but could not put his finger on it.

"Hey Kuroki, do you know that girl?" Togano asked his friend. He got a head shake in response.

"I don't know what to do about this…." Kuroki admitted. Togano thought for a minute, there was only one person he knew that would know everything about that strange girl and her past.

"Give me that letter, I'll go find out what's with that girl." Togano snatched the letter from Kuroki's hand before he could protest.

"Huh?" Kuroki was confused by his friend's behavior.

"Don't worry, this'll be quick." Togano assured his friend and began to run while he still had the courage to confront the local blackmailing king about the strange girl.

It wasn't hard to find Hiruma Youichi, all you had to do was follow the source of the gun shot sounds. Hiruma was on the roof sniping other students from the roof (with rubber bullets, of course).

"Hiruma-sempai?" Togano couldn't help but to wonder why in the seven rings of hell Hiruma was sniping people, it didn't seem all that much like him.

"Fucking glasses, what the hell do you want?" Hiruma gave him a look that said 'I'm busy, go away'.

"There's someone I need to do a background check on." Togano explained. Hiruma's eyebrows rose in mild curiosity.

"Ke ke ke! You want to have a look in my book, don't you fucking brother?" Hiruma knew exactly what Togano wanted (but Togano was a fairly predictable person, so it wasn't that hard to figure out).

"It's some strange chick that just confessed her love to Kuroki." Togano tried to justify his need before Hiruma decided to charge an arm and a leg. "I don't know her, but something about her is off."

Hiruma's expression grew a bit more serious. "What's her name?"

Togano pulled out the love letter and read it. "Yuki Miaka." Hiruma pulled out his black threat notebook and began flipping through the pages. Once he got towards the end he stopped.

"Here." Hiruma handed Togano the open threat notebook. Togano took it and began to read the entry. Apparently Yuki was known for selecting boyfriends so that she could steal all their money, make them lose credit with their friends, and then dump them when the boy no longer had anything to give. Also the girl was well known for sleeping around while dating.

"What a leech!" Togano hissed, extremely pissed.

"Ke ke ke. I never thought I'd meet someone with the balls to try and mess with my football team." Hiruma's eyes sparkled with ill-intent. "This will be a lot of fun."

"…You're going to do something really horrible to this girl, aren't you?" Togano observed.

"What makes you think that?" Hiruma was surrounded by a particularly evil aura (it had little vampire bats in it).

"Because I'd like to help if you were." Togano answered, shutting the threat notebook.

"Then start by telling Kuroki he should go out with her…" Hiruma began ominously.

Several weeks later Yuki was arrested by the police for fraud, identity thief (appearently the real Yuki Miaka was a nice girl who attended a school in a different part of town), and stealing.

Togano decided, as he watched the fake Yuki get shoved into the cop car, that Hiruma was a good person. Hiruma never once asked Togano for a price, nor did he order Togano to do any of the suggestions during their cooperation work to get this Yuki behind bars. Hiruma might portray being a devilish man most of the time, but when it came down to it, he was on his teammates' side every time.

"Here." Hiruma said, handing him an envelope.

"Huh?" Togano took it, confused.

"I don't need blackmail on comrades." Hiruma told him and walked off. Togano opened the envelope to see the negatives to the pictures that Hiruma had used to threaten himself and his other two friends earlier into joining the football club.

"No, you don't." Togano agreed, even though Hiruma had left. "We'd just do any favor you asked."

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	6. Taki

Author's Note: Got distracted by shinny things, here's an update.

Summary: Taki might be an idiot, but he is not unobservant….

A New Understanding

By: Bar-Ohki

Taki Natsuhiko was the dumbest person on the Devil Bats, without question. The only thing Taki understood was football. One of the few things people never appreciated about Taki was that he was not an unobservant person.

Taki was observing Hiruma today; it was hard not to, the quarterback was always shooting firearms and shouting profanities at his teammates. Hiruma hadn't been throwing as hard as usual or as quickly. Hiruma did not have bags under his eyes, but his voice definitely was not as strong as usual. Taki blinked and thought about it, perhaps Hiruma was a little depressed or maybe a little sick. Either way the quarterback was certainly not himself.

Taki stopped thinking about Hiruma after practice was over and instead turned his attentions back on the school work ahead of him. Hiruma returned to the idiot's thoughts during lunch, was the quarterback really okay?

Taki decided to stop by the clubhouse and check. Opening the clubhouse door revealed Hiruma sitting at the table with his head resting on his arms. Hiruma's face was flushed and his breathing was strained. Hiruma's eyes were barely open and definitely unfocused.

"Do you need to go home?" Taki couldn't help but ask the clearly ill quarterback.

"Fucking goatee!" Hiruma hissed and tried to sit up, failing when his body gave out on him. There was a tense silence while Hiruma remained laying on the tabletop.

"You shouldn't be at practice if you're sick," Taki told Hiruma, "you might get the others sick, or make yourself a lot worse."

"I don't have anywhere to fucking go!" Hiruma spat acidly, his mind fogged by fever.

"Why don't you stay with Kurita-san or Musashi-san?" Taki suggested. "They're your friends, I don't think they would mind putting you up while you recover."

"You don't know anything! Go away!" Hiruma screamed, managing to stand unsteadily on his legs. Taki said nothing and left, deciding to seek out Kurita.

It did not take the tight end very long to find the lineman.

"Taki-kun!" Kurita was mildly surprised when Taki approached him.

"You should go to the clubhouse right now." Taki told the lineman cryptically. Kurita blinked once, then left to go to the clubhouse.

Hiruma was not present at after school practice, Kurita explained that their captain was at some official tournament-related meeting that Hiruma attended because Deimon lacked an official coach.

Taki never commented on what he noticed, but he did find a new pair of spikes in his locker the next morning when Hiruma returned.

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Yay for Taki, the guy who knows that people need help sometimes! Leave a review!


	7. Sena

Author's Note: For a start, I am under the belief that people can be angels for others. By angel I mean that the person in question has done you a service that changes your life fundamentally for the better without asking anything in return.

Summary: Sena realizes that there really are some angels in this world….

Warning: Christmas Bowl spoilers….

A New Understanding

By: Bar-Ohki

Kobayakawa Sena had always had a guardian angel by the name of Anezaki Mamori. She was always protecting him, cleaning him up, and just being a good friend for him as he grew up. Going through middle school, Sena had no angels of any kind to watch over him, which led him to fall down to becoming everyone's gopher.

In high school all that changed.

Mamori loyally fell back into step behind Sena again as his angel she had been, but she was no longer his guardian angel. But her biggest action wasn't protecting him, but telling him he should do something for himself.

Sena gained another angel in the form of Kurita Ryokan, the kind-hearted lineman who was an angel in the sense that he was Sena's first real friend and comrade. It was a whole new world for Sena to have friends that were worth getting beat up by delinquents for and having dreams and goals. To Sena, it was a little scary at first, but with Kurita's kind, passionate ways, Sena was quickly over the fear and enjoying himself.

The most interesting by far of Sena's angels in high school was his new guardian angel: Hiruma Youichi. Hiruma was the sort of person who did everything subtly in the background, because of this Sena went unaware of the man's status as his guardian angel for a long time.

The first bit of evidence that Hiruma was Sena's guardian was the blackmail posters of the Huh Brothers that said 'leave him alone'. Though Sena had seen the posters, he couldn't tell who the people in the picture were and who the 'him' was mentioned in the threat.

Hiruma's second act as guardian was to give Sena a mask to hide behind so he could grow unhindered. At first, Sena was a spineless kid who was easily intimidated by others. Hiruma provided him with a mask of mystery and heroism that was his eyeshield until Sena had the strength to live up to the name and become the hero he was pretending to be. The other effect of the mask kept other schools and sports teams from knowing who Sena was, giving the boy a chance to have a semi-normal life outside of football while he adjusted to becoming a real player.

But by far the most important thing Hiruma ever gave Sena was his trust and faith. Hiruma believed in Sena and Sena's ability to run, going far enough to almost lose the Christmas Bowl because he put faith in that belief.

Never in his life had Sena found so much trust on him.

Never in the wimpy boy's life had he ever thought he'd dream to be at the top runningback in Japan.

Never had Sena dreamed he'd get to hold the golden cup in his hands and stand before his entire school, victorious.

And yet, Sena stood there in front of the clapping crowd, proud of himself and his comrades.

Hiruma Youichi, his guardian and his angel, had subtly spent months and months of blood sweat and tears for this moment in Sena's life. And in return he asked for nothing.

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Tell me what you think.


	8. Kuroki

Author's Note: I'm not entirely sure where this one came from, but it's the last of the Huh Brothers.

Summary: Kuroki finds himself in another fight….

A New Understanding

By: Bar-Ohki

It had always been clear, in Kuroki's mind, that Hiruma Youichi must do some pretty shady things with equally shady people either now or in the past. Hiruma had too many connections and too much blackmail to have not involved himself in some of the more ugly affairs in town.

Kuroki had always assumed that Hiruma was more than capable of taking care of himself despite the enemies he must have made.

It was Sunday, there was no practice so Kuroki had free time. Unfortunately for the lineman, his good friends were otherwise occupied (Togano was grounded while Juumonji was helping move his grandma into a nursing home). So Kuroki had gone down to the arcade to entertain himself. Upon arrival Kuroki sat down at one of the machines and started to kick the ass of whomever his hapless opponent happened to be.

A young man with a trench coat and particularly dark presence sat down next to Kuroki and began playing. Kuroki paid careful attention to the man in his peripheral vision, knowing that he was bad news. After a few rounds the man got up, stretched, and left the arcade. Kuroki watched him go and saw that Hiruma was waiting for man on the other side of arcade's doors. Curious, Kuroki finished his game and followed the two.

The two had chosen to stop in a particularly bad part of town.

"You wanted to see me?" Hiruma asked the man, looking very bored. Kuroki wasn't able to hear the man's response, but he was able to see the man tackle Hiruma before he had a chance to defend himself with the gun he carried. The man knocked the gun away and proceeded to punch Hiruma in the face.

"Give me the fucking book!" The man roared as he completely dominated the fight.

Kuroki knew exactly what book the man must have been referring to; Hiruma had a little notebook that was full of blackmail on other people. But Kuroki didn't care about the infamous Threat Notebook, what he cared about was some creep was beating the living shit out of his team captain.

Without anymore thought, the lineman charged the mono-focused man, smashing into the man and knocking the two of them off Hiruma. The quarterback was dizzy from all the punches, but despite that he was able to roll away and start looking for his gun. Kuroki delivered kicks and punches to the man without mercy, quickly taking control of the battle.

Hiruma got to his feet, with gun in hand only to see that Kuroki was clearly winning the fight. The quarterback stared at the lineman for a moment, watching the lineman beat this shit out of the man with the same drive Kuroki used in matches.

"He's unconscious." Hiruma commented after a few more minutes had passed.

"What the fuck were you thinking!?" Kuroki dropped the man and turned around to be right up in Hiruma's face. "You went and picked a fight without protection!"

Hiruma didn't say anything.

"You can't go getting yourself fucked up before games!" Kuroki ranted.

"…I'm not going to run around with my line like that fucker from Taiyo." Hiruma glared at Kuroki.

"I'm not saying you have to, I'm saying you shouldn't pick a fight without back up!" Kuroki was pissed. "If I hadn't been here you would have gotten mauled!"

"…You didn't have to do anything." Hiruma reminded Kuroki.

"You're my goddamn quarterback! It's my fucking job to protect you!" Kuroki yelled, still unable to calm his frustration and rage. Hiruma looked surprised by that exclamation, then he smirked.

"This won't happen again." Himrua assured the lineman. "If it does, you have permission to beat me up."

"Good." Kuroki nodded and the two made their way back towards the arcade.

"…My parents aren't home right now." Kuroki told Hiruma after a few minutes. "We have some ice and stuff." Hiruma nodded.

Later, when Hiruma had his next deal in the bad part of town, he had the Huh Brothers trail him as a duty to them both.

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Hiruma's lack of comebacks is mainly due to the fact you can't bluff your way out of the blunt truth when the evidence is too obvious. Let me know what you think.


	9. Kurita Musashi 1

Author's Note: School term is starting, updates will be slowing. You can't really describe Kurita and Hiruma's relationship without including Musashi, so I'll just do two Kurtia-Musashi chapters, this is the first one.

Summary: Creampuffs, friendship, and football….

A New Understanding

By: Bar-Ohki

After the Oujou match, the exhausted members of Deimon crawled back into the clubhouse and wearily put their uniforms away. Kurita set out the box of victory creampuffs (Juumonji had coined the phrase after realizing that Kurita always had creampuffs out when Deimon won a game). Most members took their creampuff and walked right out the door to go home and collapse on their beds.

Hiruma was always the last person out, whether it be practice, game, or meeting; it was one of the captain's responsibilities. Tonight, like any other night there was a victory, Hiruma would not exit the locker room into an empty clubhouse. In the clubhouse would be Kurita making some coffee.

Without commenting, Hiruma sat down at the table and pulled his creampuff out of the box and set it on the napkin Kurita had set on the table earlier. The two boys remained in a comfortable silence while they waited for the coffee to be done. When the coffeemaker chimed to signal the coffee was done, Kurita picked up the pot and poured two cups. One he handed directly to Hiruma while the other he set down and proceeded to pour countless sugar cubes into.

Hiruma picked up his creampuff, dunked it into the coffee and took a bite.

"Pumpkin…!" Hiruma was pleasantly surprised by unexpected flavor of the creampuff.

"I had to order it special, they don't sell them this time of year." Kurita explained.

"Ke! You're too sentimental, fatty." Hiruma had an honest smile on his face and took another bite of the creampuff without complaint.

"We always went and got pumpkin creampuffs when we won in middle school." Kurita reminisced. "Ah! Musashi!"

Musashi had just walked into the room with a smile.

"I almost forgot my creampuff." Musashi admitted. He had just walked two blocks before he realized he had forgotten the creampuff.

"Getting Alzheimer's in your old age?" Hiruma taunted while he handed Musashi the creampuff.

"Pumpkin!" Musashi was surprised by the flavor. "We always had these after victories in middle school…."

"Since we lost to the White Knights earlier, I thought it would be good to bring them back." Kurita admitted.

"Honestly, fatty, I thought you'd be waiting for the Christmas Bowl for that." Hiruma commented, sipping his coffee.

"We'll have them then too!" Kurita assured Hiruma with a smile. All three friends fell into a comfortable silence while they finished their creampuffs. They cleaned up and left.

Musahi and Kurita parted ways with Hiruma after a few blocks since he lived in the opposite direction from them.

"You know something," Musashi began as he and Kurita walked along.

"Yeah?" Kurita asked.

"I think we're the only people in world that knows Hiruma likes creampuffs." Musashi commented.

"Yeah," Kurita agreed, "remember in middle school, how we used to argue over the flavor?"

"Of course," Musashi chuckled, "the only flavor we all liked was pumpkin."

"…You know, Hiruma gave up creampuffs completely when you left." Kurita remarked after a few steps. "He said he wanted to be more serious about his diet."

"…Really?" Musashi felt guilty again, Hiruma's favorite desert of all time was creampuffs.

"Yeah, he gave up all sweets," Kurita added, "and he's been good about the rest, just not the creampuffs."

"…So he loves football more than sweets, but creampuffs more than football?" Musashi chuckled.

"Hiruma loves creampuffs because we always eat them together," Kurita pointed out, "I think creampuffs are part of football for him."

"Ah." Musashi agreed, nodding. "They are for me too."

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Hiruma hates sugar gum (which has a difference in texture than sugarless gum), it does not say anywhere that Hiruma hates sweets, just sugar gum. Leave a review!


	10. Kurita Musashi 2

Author's Note: This one takes place after Musashi returns.

Summary: Silence and friendship are golden….

A New Understanding

By: Bar-Ohki

Musashi quietly shut the door behind him and turned his gaze at the scene before him. Hiruma was sitting upside down on the couch, reading a copy of American Football Monthly and chewing gum. Kurita was leaning on the back of the couch and reading over Hiruma's shoulder. Carefully, Musashi picked his way through the mess of plates and pastry boxes that littered the floor to sit down next to Hiruma. Hiruma pointed to the article of interest and Musashi began reading.

The three friends read in silence. Occasionally Kurita would poke Hiruma's right ankle, while Musashi would poke Hiruma's left. When Hiruma had been poked on both ankles, he'd flip the page.

Once they finished the magazine, Hiruma would set it aside and flip himself upright again. Musashi would hand Hiruma a packet of sugarless gum while Kurita handed Musashi a pastry while Hiruma would hand Kurita the magazine. Musashi would enjoy his pastry while Hiruma would enjoy a new stick of gum while Kurita would put the magazine away and get some coffee started.

Once Hiruma had gotten a few good bites on his gum, he'd stand up and get out the figurines of the team and set them up in formation on the table. Musashi would help Hiruma until Kurita returned to the table with the coffee. The three would sit and enjoy coffee while they arranged and made notes of various formations while they arranged the pieces.

After a long while of that, Musashi would put the figurines away while Hiruma made some more notes while Kurita began to clean up the floor. All three would finish their tasks at the same time. They would all wordlessly stand up and walk out the door, locking the clubhouse up behind them.

Then the three would stand and put their hands together, as if they were going to do a cheer. They'd lower their hands, then pull them up holding fists to the sky. After an exchange of smiles, the three would part ways.

And next Saturday this ritual repeats itself.

A good friend you can share your feelings with, but a best friend is the one you can share your silence with.

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Leave a review!


	11. Komusubi

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, school picked up and my free time flew away. On a sad note, we're almost done with these. The only person left after this one is Suzuna. This one takes place around field-day.

Summary: Komusubi meets a new kind of powerful man….

A New Understanding

By: Bar-Ohki

There are different kinds of power in this world. Some say power is money, some say power is knowledge, and some say that power is just raw strength. No one knew the ways of power better than Komusubi Daikichi. Power-go is a language only understood by _manly_ powerful men. This mostly included men who were physically strong and intimidating, but there were a few exceptions. One of whom was Hiruma Youichi, the infamous devilish quarterback.

Hiruma had money and knowledge as his sources of power, something Komusubi had always acknowledged. Hiruma was a manly, powerful man, he should understand power-go.

"T-training?" Komusubi asked Hiruma upon a chance encounter in the empty hallway one morning at school. Kurita would have translated the question as something on the lines of 'You mentioned a new training regiem the other day and I was wanting to confirm if we were going to be doing that today, or sticking with the old training'.

Hiruma paused and considered the question for a moment. "I'm trying a new tactic today."

"Broken?" Komusubi asked. This translates as 'I have never doubted your expertise with football technique and I am sure you know it better than me, but could you tell me what was wrong with what he have been doing'.

"If yesterday's regime didn't work, today's would be impossible." Hiruma explained. "And today's is the most important for the Seibu match."

"Fugo!" Komusubi bowed and hurried along. His exclamation translates as 'thank you for clarifying that, I plan to put all of my effort into your new regime so that I can be strong enough to defeat Seibu'.

"Ya ha!" Hiruma called back over his shoulder at Komusubi. It was not obviously power-go, but Hiruma had said 'I'm going to punish you twice as hard if I catch you slacking today, though I will reward you if you can inspire your teammates to put forth the same amount of effort as you'.

After the Seibu match, Komusubi acknowledged another source of power for Hiruma: leadership. Hiruma could convince a group of mismatched misfits to pull together and become one of the strongest football teams anyone had ever seen. As their leader he was strong in mind and sprit, taking care of them and continuing to drive them forward.

Komusubi might be Kurita's apprentice, but he was Hiruma's follower and comrade first. That was the important thing.

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Leave a review please!


	12. Ishimaru

Author's Note: I've decided to do Ishimaru as well as Suzuna. Next chapter is the last one, I'm sorry and I'm not changing my decision. I'll explain my reasons next chapter.

Summary: Ishimaru might be plain and unnoticeable, but one man never forgot him….

A New Understanding

By: Bar-Ohki

It was a hard life to sit in the middle of a bus full of teammates and have them completely forget your existence. Ishimaru simply sighed and looked out the window, bored. He wasn't a regular member of the American Football Club, but playing with them was fun in its own way.

To Ishimaru's surprise someone sat down next to him. It was not uncommon to have someone sit down next to him and only remember his existence when they collided due to the bumps during the ride. Ishimaru sighed and continued to gaze out the window, having given up on having a social interaction a long time ago.

"Hey track star," Hiruma poked Ishimaru in the shoulder, "when's your next track meet?"

Ishimaru turned his head to see that Hiruma Youichi, the infamous commander from hell, was not only sitting next to him, but trying to have a conversation.

"Next Saturday." Ishimaru answered, still a little stunned that he wasn't being ignored. "Is there a football game then?"

"No." Hiruma answered, then paused in thought. "Isn't this next meet your finals?"

"Yeah." Ishimaru nodded.

Hiruma said nothing for a minute. "I'll excuse you if you don't come to practice next week."

"Thanks." Ishimaru smiled, really happy.

"How _is_ your fucking team doing this year?" Hiruma asked, curious.

"We're on the edge," Ishimaru laughed, "if we win this meet we get to go to nationals."

"And if you don't?" Hiruma meet Ishimaru's gaze.

"We lose." Ishimaru answered. "It's no different than football."

"Yeah." Hiruma agreed, nodding his head slightly.

"You're not going to lend me Eyeshield, are you?" Ishimaru was hopeful.

"No." Hiruma answered. "I don't need him attracting attention from scouts."

"Ah, yeah." Ishimaru understood Hiruma's position, being a fellow captain himself.

"…Could I borrow you?" Ishimaru asked suddenly.

"What the fuck could I do on a track?" Hiruma couldn't help but to wonder.

"Either to throw or just for encouraging." Ishimaru answered.

"Ke!" Hiruma laughed. "Why would I get for that?"

"I don't really have anything to offer other than my continued cooperation as a helper for your team." Ishimaru answered.

"That's enough, track star." Hiruma smirked. "You're the first person who's had the fucking balls to ask for my help."

"Thanks." Ishimaru, nodded his head gratefully.

Hiruma simply smirked back and said nothing.

**-at the mentioned track meet-**

Hiruma wasn't the only one who showed up to the track meet, much to Ishimaru's surprise, the entire Devil Bat line up was there. Hiruma, as par requested, threw shot put, discus, and javelin. He totally botched the discus throws, but managed meet records in the other two events [1]. A short boy who wore a beanie and sunglasses, turned out to be Eyeshield 21 and he won all of the sprinting events he participated in. Monta, of all people, was extremely good at the hurdles and placed second in both hurdle races. Not to mention the cheerleaders kept everyone's sprit high.

Ishimaru was stunned by the development, but did not complain. He might have been a helper from the track team, but he still was a Devil Bat, and the Devil Bats looked after their own.

Ishimaru thanked Hiruma after they won the meet. But the thanks wasn't just for helping out with the meet, it was also for noticing and respecting his existence.

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Second to last chapter, tell me what you think.


	13. Suzuna

Author's Note: This is the last chapter and before you cry and tell me I'm a horrible person, here's a my reasoning. First off I have a personal rule of not having more than two ongoing fics at once and I would like to be moving onto another fic. Secondly I'm running out of inspiration for these and I don't want the quality of fic to drop off. Third off I don't want to be writing another 20 chapters or so of fic, so I am stopping at the designated stopping place I set for myself when I originally decided to expand the fic. On a personal note, I know I haven't covered all the helpers, but they are such minor characters that I can't see Hiruma having a personal moment with any of them (he blackmailed the basketball boys and I don't know how the hell they recruited the sumo guy).

To My Readers: Thank you for sticking around and reading this to the very end. I really appreciate your attention and I hope you've enjoyed this story and will continue to enjoy this last chapter.

To My Reviewers: Thank you for encouraging me, complementing me, making requests, and reminding me that you are there and you want to see what happens next! I hope you continue to keep reviewing not just my story, but other stories you read.

I encourage both my readers and reviewers to look at other stories, my own included.

Thank you.

Summary: For Suzuna, big brothers don't have to be related by blood….

A New Understanding

By: Bar-Ohki

Taki Suzuna was a popular girl, her charisma and happy personality made her easily loved by everyone. Of course being popular meant that she was often the object of several people's conversations, including some of the more slimy characters. There was a small group of bitter girls at Deimon that resented Suzuna for her popularity. Usually all they did was bitch about how annoying Suzuna was and leave it at that.

Recently they had chosen to start attacking her, in the subtitle ways of social warfare. Casually they began planting the seeds in the minds of others that Suzuna was sleeping with the members of the football team. They spread words that discredited her morals and intelligence. They always remarked that no one really knew what Suzuna did over at Deimon High School, because she was doing drugs.

At first there was no reaction, but rumor mills are what they are and within a month all the initial seeds and thoughts had discredited Suzuna so much that several of her friends had left her. A new-found depression fell over Suzuna, it showed in the almost smiles she now wore and the lack of enthusiasm in her day to day activities.

Hiruma Youichi was a very observant person, unlike several other people on the football team, and he had noticed the change in Suzuna. After practice one day, Suzuna was dragging her feet a little bit.

"Fucking skates," Hiruma called from behind her, "cheerleaders are supposed to boost morale, not spread depression. What the fuck is eating you?"

"It's nothing." Suzuan answered robotically. She was startled by the gun barrel in her face.

"This is not 'nothing' fucking skates." Hiruma looked down the gun at her.

"It is nothing!" Suzuna smacked his gun away in an unexpected fit of violence. "And if it was anything you'd never understand!" With that she ran off, crying.

Hiruma sighed and ran a hand through his hair, Suzuna's problems were already out of hand. He pulled out his infamous threat notebook and a cell phone. After making a few calls to his slaves, he shut his phone with a frown. Apparently Suzuna had her reputation trashed back at her high school and no longer had many friends.

"That's unacceptable." Hiruma commented to no one in particular.

The next day at school Suzuna was not actively hated, but not actively liked either. Her ego was boosted a little by the fact that no one was actively hating her. By the end of the week everything had mostly returned to normal. Her friends had come back to her pleading forgiveness for believing in rumors and not in Suzuna. Once again Suzuna was in high sprits and bouncing around with all of her usual enthusiasm.

"Fucking skates!" Hiruma stopped her before she could meet up and work with the other cheerleaders. "Last week was not 'nothing'."

"Eh?" Suzuna blinked.

"You're smarter than your brother," Hiruma gave an impatient look, "last week your school was hating you and today everyone was liking you, why is that?"

"…I don't know." Suzuna answered. Now that she thought about it, it did seem strange.

"…Fucking skates, I know for a fact that what happened to you over this last month was anything but 'nothing', got it?" Hiruma told her. "If you have a fucking problem, deal with it before it gets out of hand."

"You-nii?" Suzuna blinked. That's when she realized that she had had a problem this last month and that Hiruma had personally dealt with it, because she hadn't done anything about it.

"Just focus on cheering." Hiruma told her and walked off.

Suzuna realized then that she had another big brother, a smart one who went out of his way to make sure his family was taken care of.

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Evil social warfare is something I have been a victim of more than once. Thank you for reading this!


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